Saving Lauren
by Runningtowardsfire
Summary: She was lost. To dependant on the alcohol. She was uncontrollable. Secretly she needed him. He was out of his depth. He had hurt her to many times. But he couldn't watch her do this to herself. Everyone had stood by and watched her do this for too long. She needed saving. From herself. & jauren fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

The flames flickered and thick gray smoke traveled up into the air. The smell of burning plastic and rubber invaded her senses. And just for a moment, a second even, she felt happy. She felt hope.

_'This is it' _She thought _'This is what I need. To burn away the memories, I depend on myself again. To be the girl I used to be.'_

She let out a frustrated sigh and slumped against the wall. Her eyes never leaving the burning barrel that was full of gifts and pictures _from him._

Deep down, she knew the real reason why she was doing this. She wanted to forget. To forget about him, to forget how he made her feel every time he looked at her. To forget about her rowing parents and her friends betrayal.

But who was she trying to fool? She knew she would never forget about him. A picture of his face and sweet, caring smile, would be forever embedded in her mind.

She could feel the anger building up inside of her.

"I don't want to think about this." She muttered to herself.

She opened the plastic bag that she had been holding and pulled out a bottle of vodka. She unscrewed the lid.

_'Joey, wouldn't like you drinking that.' _The thought cruelly skittered around her brain.

"Why would he care?" She sneered. "Joey made it pretty clear he wanted nothing more to do with me"

And with that she brought the bottle to her lips and took a gulp.

The vile taste burned her throat and made her gag. It wasn't enough to make her stop thought.

She drank until her vision got blurry.

She drunk until she could barely hold herself up.

She drank Until she forgot.

a/n

Just a little preview of what's to come. huge lauren & joey shipper. ;) so most of my stories will be about them. :)


	2. Chapter 2

The sunlight beamed in harshly through the open curtains, and Lauren who was just awakening groaned in protest and lifted her hand to her eyes in attempt to block it out.

_I really need to start remembering to close those damn curtains.. _

She groaned again, once the pounding in her head started and the summersaults began in her stomach.

"Finally awake then, ay?" An all to familiar voice said.

She sprang up immediately, and turned her head to see Joey standing there with his eyebrow raised. She quickly lay back down, the first movement causing great pain to her head.

Joey sighed.

"Hungover?" He guessed. "Serves you right, Lauren."

Rolling her eyes, she asked "How did I get here?"

A million possibilities ran through her head. Most of them, making her want to hang her head in shame.

_Please, do not let him say I turned up here, throwing myself at him._

_"_Figures, that you can't remember." He shook his head in disappointment.

He moved to sit on the couch, she was currently lay on. She slowly shifted into a sitting position, and let him sit down.

"I was bringing out the empty barrels after my shift" He carried on. "Then I saw you there, just laying there on the floor, in the alleyway at the side of the club. How could you be so careless, ay?"

She shrugged and averted her gaze.

"Nearly gave me a heart attack, you did. You just lay there, unmoving Lauren."

"Yeah well, I was just having fun, wasn't I?"

"Fun? Lauren, drinking on your own isn't what I would call fun. Passing out in an alleyway, in the middle of the night isn't fun. It's dangerous."

"Whatever." She muttered. "I don't have to listen to this"

She got up, grabbed her coat and went to leave. But he grabbed her arm stopping her.

"You need to see someone about this, Lauren. I think you have a problem."

She whirled around, her anger building up inside of her. She was getting defensive. Alcohol was a touchy subject when it came to her, it was her friend. It was there for her when no one else was. She knew she could depend on it.

"You're not my dad, Joey!" She shouted "You don't get to tell me what to do, okay? You're my cousin, yeah? Cousin!"

Joey winced, hurt evident on his face,

It was a low blow, but It worked. He dropped the subject of alcohol, instantly. And for a fleeting moment, she felt satisfaction.

Joey cleared his throat. "I have to go to there R&R, to talk to Sharon about my shifts. You're welcome to stay here, until you feel better. But i'll guess i'll see you around."

This time, he made a move a move to go, but she stopped him. Her earlier feeling of satisfaction gone, replaced with the feelings of being hurt, angry an most of all, confused.

She still loved him.

God, she still loved him.

It was getting to the point, where she wanted all of this love for him to leave, so she could stop hurting. But it refused to go.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked in a small voice. "Why didn't you take me home instead?"

He itched his eyebrow. A habit he did when he didn't know what to do, or when he was nervous.

"Because, you're dad would of thought I'd been serving you. He would of come to the R&R going mad. It would of looked bad for business."

She shook her head.

"No.. No, you're lying, Joey! You're lying"

She could feel a wave of hysteria building up inside of her. Her eyes began watering. He moved closer to her.

"Lauren, babe listen-"

"No" She interrupted him. "You still care, Joey! I know you still care about me!"

He sighed, and moved a piece of stray hair behind her ear. His thumb caressing her cheek, she leaned her head to the side.

"I know you still love me." She whispered.

But those words seemed to break the trance he was in. He shook his head, removed his hand, grabbed his coat and began walking towards the front door.

"Joey?.." Lauren called out in a broken whisper.

"Just leave it Lauren, yeah? I gotta go." And with that, he walked out the front door, closing it behind him.

The tears began to fall down her face, but she was stubborn. She refused to cry. She wiped the tears from her face and stomped out the house. Only one destination in mind.

_The only way to cure a hangover, is to carry on drinking.. _

So that was why a hurt and confused Lauren, stumbled into The Vic at half twelve in the afternoon, and ordered a large vodka and Coke.

**wasn't going to upload this tonight. Takes me forever because I'm typing it on my phone. But I had a brainwave and decided to post it anyway. Sorry for any mistakes it's like 3am and Im too tired to proof read. Next chapter, will be in Joey's Pov, so you can get a glimpse into how he's thinking. :) xo **


End file.
